Steady, As she floats
by pili-pala
Summary: Setting is the future. Main characters are Wyatt, Chris and Melinda. I'll try to write a real summary as the story progresses...
1. Brothers & Sisters

**Setting**: Future

**Title**: from 'Steady, As she goes' by The Raconteurs

**Disclaimer**: I don't own anything, i borrow. (except the general story line, of course)

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"Get off my case, Chris!" Melinda yelled, storming down the wooden stairs of the manor. "I will get off your case if you promise me you'll never go after a demon again! You can't-" At those last two words, Melinda turned around and gave her brother a furious look. "I can't _what_? Come on, say it!" she yelled. She knew what he was going to say. And worst of all, though she would never admit it out loud, she knew he was right. At nineteen, Melinda still didn't have powers other than the obvious orbing and spell casting; even though she had graduated from magic school last year with honors. She had majored in potions and magical history. _To make up for her lack of natural skill_, she knew some people said behind her back.

Chris took a deep breath. "You can't… go after demons. Certainly not alone." He said, trying to sound calm. Melinda shrugged. "Like you would ever let me come along" she complained, "Besides, I know what I'm doing with those potions. I vanquished that demon, didn't I?" Chris took a few steps closer to her. "That's not the point, Melinda!" "Then I don't see what the point _is_, Chris!" she yelled back. "The point is that you could've got hurt!" Melinda rolled her eyes and walked into the living room, muttering to herself. But her brother followed her this time as well. "Just promise me you won't go after _any_ demon by yourself again. It's not safe." She turned around and looked at him. "I can't promise you that." She said casually. "Ok then," he replied, now very annoyed, "you leave me no choice but to use that force field spell again." He had used that one on his sister countless times before. Actually, it was one of the first spells Chris had come up with completely by himself. Altered especially for his sister. It cast a force field around her every time she tried to use the book, potion ingredients or any other magical items, and it forced her to orb home when she was within reach of a demon. Melinda called it 'the baby spell' because it was based on a spell witches used centuries ago, to protect their children. "You wouldn't dare." She said threateningly. "Watch me." He said, taking a little book out of his back pocket. "Wyatt!" Melinda called, looking at the ceiling. Wyatt orbed downstairs. "What on earth is going on here?" he asked, looking from Melinda to Chris and back. "Oh, nothing much," Chris began, "our sister seems to have a death wish, that's all." Wyatt gave Chris a questioning look. "Yea," he continued, "she went after a demon. Alone!" "It was just a low level demon. And I told you, I had more than enough potions. I knew exactly what I was doing." Melinda tried to defend herself. Wyatt shook his head and looked at her. "You know better than to look for trouble, Mel." There it was. One simple sentence and she'd give up. She could argue with Chris all day. When they were little, they used yell at each other so bad sometimes, that Piper found nothing better than to restore the peace by casting a silencing charm on them. Melinda sighed. "I know." She said, trying to avoid looking at her eldest brother. A shocked look formed on Chris's face. He wanted to say something, but Wyatt held one hand up to stop his brother. Then he walked over to Melinda and put a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, you will get that new power one of these days, you know. You just have to be a bit more patient." he said. "I sure hope so," she sighed, "'cos I'm feeling pretty useless. I'm always the stupid little sister who gets kidnapped by the bad bad demons. I'm sick of it… And there's no way to tell if I'll get a new power at all." "Mel, come on. You were never the 'stupid little sister'." He said with a smile, "Remember, your MAT – scores were even higher than ours. I'm sure you'll get a new power soon." He reassured her. "And in the mean time," he said, looking at Chris, "we promise to give you some space." Chris wanted to say something, but again, Wyatt held a hand up to stop him. "If," he continued, "you promise to call us when you're in trouble." She nodded in agreement. "I promise." She said, and hugged her big brother. Again, Chris looked completely shocked about his sister's reaction. He could yell at her and argue with her all day, try as he might, she never even tried to understand him. But Wyatt always pulled it off in less than two minutes.

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**Note**: I figure MAT's are 'Magical Aptitude Tests' lol. Anyway, i'd love to hear what you think about the start of this story. So if you have a few minutes to spare, please use that review button! This is just a try-out. I wanted a break from my other story. Not that i've been working on the other one very long, but anyway... 


	2. Meetings and Milk

"Mom, I'm going to Kayla's, ok?" Melinda said, looking around the corner, into the living room. Kayla was a girl she knew from magic school. Melinda hadn't seen her since her graduation party last year. Kayla was a year older than Melinda and had always been a good friend. She lived with her cousin and his family. They didn't know anything about magic, and Melinda understood all too well why Kayla wanted to keep it that way. But of course, the fact that they didn't know about magic meant that orbing over to Kayla's was out of the question. "You know, Mel, sweetie, I'd rather you don't go alone." Piper said, looking up from her book. Melinda was just about to protest, when her eldest brother walked in, with his coat on his arm. "Don't worry, mom. I'm dropping her off." He said with a smile. Piper nodded. "Ok then." She looked at Melinda. "Don't stay too late. I know you haven't seen your friend in a while, but remember what you promised about helping out in the restaurant tomorrow." Melinda nodded and waved her mom goodbye.

"It's freezing!" Wyatt complained as they turned around the corner of the street, "I'm never going to get used to these climate changes. I remember winters when people thought 20°C was cold!" Melinda laughed as she saw him trying to pull the collar of his coat higher. "And I thought you came along to admire the winter scenery" she said teasingly. "Now, what does _that_ mean?" he asked with a frown. "You know what I mean" she answered, "You're coming along to see Kayla." He didn't say a word. Melinda smiled. "You like her, don't you?" she asked, glancing sideways at him. "No, I don't!" he protested, "I mean, she's a nice girl. But I… I… I mean…" Melinda laughed loudly and put a hand on her brother's back. "Honestly," she laughed, "all the power in the world, but you've never been good with secrets. Not even with your own." For a moment there, she thought she saw him blush. But she didn't give it much attention and they continued on their way. "Damn, it's cold!" he repeated, after having seen two snow men, "I should've brought my gloves." He tried to warm his hands with his scarf. Instantly, the scarf disappeared and a pair of red woolen gloves appeared on his hands. "What the…? Where did they come from?" he said surprised. "What?" his sister answered, lowering her voice and looking back to see if anyone else was around, "You didn't conjure them?" He shook his head. "That wasn't conjuring. My scarf disappeared. Looks like it transformed or something. Maybe…" he doubted, "maybe you did it." Melinda looked at him in disbelief. "I don't transform things." She simply said. "Well, maybe you do now. Think about it. You started orbing when you were four because Chris was nagging about demons. Maybe you're starting to transform things now, because I was nagging about the cold weather." Melinda didn't answer. She wasn't really sure what to think about all this.

When they arrived at the front door of Kayla's house, Melinda turned towards her brother. "You're staying too, right?" she asked him. He simply nodded, since only moments later, the door swung open and Kayla threw her arms around Melinda. "It's so great to see you, Mel!" Then she turned to Wyatt, suddenly looking far less sure of herself. "You too, Wyatt" He just smiled and nodded. Melinda felt an awkward moment coming on. "So," she broke the silence, "what have you been up to during the past year?" Kayla took their coats and guided them into the living room. "I had a temp job at the local florist" she said, "nothing much, and certainly nothing exciting. But I'm thinking about sending that letter to magic school to become a teacher. You know how I loved potions class. It would be so great to have a class to teach the things to that I've learned." Melinda smiled. "That would certainly be an improvement to Eggidius." she said. "Hey, Eggy's a good teacher" Wyatt interrupted. "Yea, he is" Kayla agreed, "But you have to admit he's a little…" "Boring" Melinda finished the sentence. They laughed and spent the rest of the evening reminiscing about their time at magic school, and talking about their future plans.

"Oh my, almost eleven. We should get home." Melinda said, looking at the clock. "Yea, we should." Wyatt agreed, "Hey, since your family isn't back yet, can we orb home?" Kayla nodded. "Sure. Let me just go get your coats." She disappeared into the hallway. Melinda looked around in the room and noticed a book on the shelve with strange markings on it. It looked like ancient runes of some sort. Thinking it was strange to keep a magic school book on the family book shelve, she wanted to get a closer look, when Kayla returned with the coats. "Here you go" she said with a smile, "Promise me you won't let another year pass by before you visit again." Melinda hugged her friend. "Promise." she said, "And thank you for having us over." "Yea, it was great to see you again." Wyatt added. Kayla blushed and waved them goodbye. Melinda and Wyatt orbed out.

"Very subtle, that last one" Melinda said as they arrived in the manor's kitchen in a shower of blue sparks, "I'm impressed." Wyatt shrugged. "Will you stop with the match making already?" he said, walking towards the living room. "I'm not doing any match making," Melinda answered, following her brother, "I'm just saying that if you like her, you shouldn't wait too long. She's a pretty girl. And clever too." Piper looked up from the ingredient list she was (double) checking. "Like who?" she asked, looking at Wyatt. "No one." he answered. "Kayla" Melinda said, sitting down next to her mother. "Your friend from school?" she asked, taking off her glasses. "The one and only." Melinda answered. Piper looked up at her eldest son with a sit-down-and-tell-me-all-about-that smile on her face, while Wyatt looked at his younger sister with a you're-so-dead look on his. "Ok, well I should probably go to bed, because I have to be all rested and energetic tomorrow to help out in the restaurant. Night, mom.", Melinda said quickly. "Night Wyatt" she added with an innocent smile; and orbed upstairs.

At 4 AM that night, Melinda woke up; cursing her own sleeping pattern, since this was the third time this week this happened. She got up and walked downstairs to get some milk from the kitchen. She took the carton out of the fridge and poured herself a glass. Behind her, someone orbed in. He grabbed her and put a hand over her mouth, muttering a spell. Melinda dropped her glass. It shattered on the floor. In a slight moment of panic, the witch behind her listened for any sign of movement upstairs, holding Melinda as still as possible. Then he turned back to her, still trying to constrain her with his left hand and conjuring a small knife is his right. Melinda tried to scream, but when there was no sound, she understood the spell he had muttered before was a silencing charm. He turned her right arm with the palm of her hand facing upwards. Melinda tried to fight herself free, but he was too strong. The witch started carving a symbol in her skin. A few tears of pain ran from Melinda's eyes, and she tried to scream, even though she knew it was no use. She noticed the milk carton on the table. To her surprise, it instantly transformed into a glass bottle. She grabbed the bottle and hit the witch behind her over the head with it. It didn't knock him unconscious, but it did break the charm. "Help! Someone help!" Melinda yelled as loud as she possibly could, feeling her head starting to spin. Just a split second later, she saw the blue light of someone orbing in. Confidant that everything would be all right now, Melinda gave in to the dizziness and passed out. Coming back to his senses, the witch tried to get to her in an attempt to orb himself and his victim away. He was sent flying to the other end of the room though. "Well if it isn't little Chris" the witch said, realizing the only way to keep him from calling reinforcements was to talk himself out of it. "What did you do to her?" Chris asked furiously. "Oh, she'll be ok" the witch answered, "As soon as we've gathered the sisters. The Naiads will be pleased." He smiled viscously, and orbed out before Chris could even make another move. Chris dropped on his knees next to his sister. "Mel! Mel, can you hear me?" he said, trying to get her to wake up. Then he noticed blood on her arm. He turned it around and saw the mark. "Mom! Dad!" he screamed, as Melinda started to shiver.

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**Note**: Thanks for the reviews, the faves and the alerts, i really appreciate it. I hope you liked the second chapter. Can't wait to hear what you think about it. -_Points at the review button_- 


	3. The Runes Book

Only seconds later, Piper and Leo came running down stairs. "What happened?" Piper asked in mixed worry and panic, dropping to her knees next to her daughter. Melinda was shivering like she had a terrible fever. "A witch attacked her. When I got here, that symbol was already on her arm. He wanted to take her away" Chris answered. In the mean time, Leo had tried to heal the wound. It had stopped bleeding, but the mark wouldn't fade. "What is it? What's wrong?" Piper asked when she saw his worried face. "I can't heal it completely. It's a magical wound." he answered. "Water", Melinda said suddenly. Piper immediately got up to pour her a glass, but Leo stopped her. "No, not yet", he said, "We don't know why she's asking for water, or if she really _is_ asking for it. We should get her upstairs and find out what this symbol means first." Since the wound was magical, they decided it best to carry her to her room, rather than orb her there.

As they got upstairs, Wyatt poked his head out of his room. "What's going on?" he asked in a sleepy voice. Then he saw Melinda in Leo's arms. "What happened?" he asked, immediately wide awake. "A witch attacked her in the kitchen," Piper answered as they all got into Melinda's room and Leo lay her down on the bed, "Chris saved her from getting kidnapped as well." Then Piper turned around to her youngest son. "Did that witch say anything?" she asked impatiently. "He said something about gathering the sisters. I don't know if he meant you or not." Chris answered, "And something about The Nai-ors? Or Nai-its?" Leo turned around. "The Naiads?" he asked incredulously. Chris nodded. "Who are _they_?" Piper asked, looking at her husband as he started pacing around the room. "The Naiads are water nymphs." He began, "They live in fountains, rivers, lakes… They're protectors. Loved by the ancient Greek Gods." Piper frowned. "That's all wonderful, but what I'd like to know is why there's a symbol carved in my daughter's arm!" Wyatt walked over to Melinda's desk and picked up a large book. All eyes turned to him. "From Melinda's advanced Mythology class" he said. He opened the book and waved a hand over it. The book flipped instantly to chapter eight. "It says here that among the Naiads, there were three supposed sisters. Corycia or Cory, loved by Apollo and mother of his child; Cleodora or Cleo, loved by Poseidon, they had one son; and Melaina or Mel, who was also loved by Apollo, like her sister Cory and also had a son with him. However, Hades, king of the underworld, noticed the sisters and took a particular interest in Mel. He let her rule over the nymphs of the underworld. And…" He stopped reading and stared at the page. "What?" Leo asked, walking over to have a look at the book himself. "It's unsure what happened to Mel, but it is believed that she got too dominant and was therefore killed by Hades." Wyatt read on. "So?" Chris asked, walking over to his brother and his father. "So," Piper answered, "If these 'Naiads', or whatever they're called, are trying to have a family reunion, they probably want to use our Mel to do it. If there's one thing I know, it's that sisters are always stronger together. Especially when there's three of them." Chris looked at her. "Yea, except, she's not _their_ sister, she's _ours_." Leo closed the book and put it back on the desk. "Maybe so, but she _is_ the daughter of a charmed one and she has no sisters herself." Piper nodded. "Not to mention the name thing is sorta creeping me out, just a little bit."

"Kayla", Melinda whispered. It seemed as if she was having a nightmare. "Her friend from school?" Leo asked. Wyatt nodded. "Maybe something happened to her as well." "Quite possible", Piper agreed, "You two should orb over there and check on her. She lives with a non magical family, so if something did happen to her we should bring her here. Melinda said Kayla doesn't want her family to know she's magical." Chris frowned in confusion. "Why doesn't she want them to know she's magical?" he asked. "Probably to protect them." Leo answered, "but either way that doesn't matter. If she doesn't want them to know, that's her choice, and we should respect that." Chris didn't seem convinced. "Then, can't we use the call-a-lost-witch spell?" he asked. Leo shook his head. "If she has a mark too, we shouldn't use magic. There's no way of telling what the effects would be." Piper turned back to her eldest son. "You think you know her house well enough to orb over there? Because I doubt there's a valid explanation to wanting to see Kayla at 5 in the morning" He nodded. "I think so." Wyatt concentrated, grabbed Chris's arm and they orbed out.

When they arrived, Chris looked around in the room. "Are you sure this is right?" he asked, seeing a few teddy bears sitting in the corner, near a big window with pink curtains in front of it. "Yes," Wyatt replied, keeping his voice as low as possible, "I followed a magical trail." Then Chris spotted a little girl in the bed in front of them. "Erm, unless we went back in time in the process, I think that one's too young to the one you have a crush on" he said, pointing at the girl. Wyatt's eyes widened. "That must be Katie" he said, slightly panicking as the girl turned around in her sleep. "Katie?" Chris asked. "The daughter of Kayla's cousin." Confused once again, Chris turned towards his brother. "If you followed a magical trail, then how did we end up here, exactly?" "How should I know? Maybe I made a mistake?" Wyatt answered, not really paying attention to the whole silence thing. When he looked back at her, Katie opened her eyes and stared at the both of them. "Oh, hi Katie" Wyatt said in his friendliest voice, desperately hoping the girl wouldn't scream.

There was a flash of light, and the image of a big purple monster with three blue eyes appeared like a hologram between Katie and the two brothers. The monster looked like it had just escaped from a cartoon. "Hey, I know him!" Wyatt laughed, "We used to watch his show when we were little, right? I don't really remember his name though…" Chris shrugged. "She's image projecting" he said, trying to get his brother to focus on the problem, "That might be the reason why your trail brought us here. She's magical too." Wyatt walked over to Katie. "Katie, it's ok, we won't hurt you." He tried. The monster growled at him. "That's a pretty scary monster. Hey, do you think he could tell us where Kayla is?" Katie shook her head. "No? How about you? Can you tell us where she is?" Wyatt asked. Without saying a word, Katie jumped out of the bed and ran to the door. Wyatt and Chris followed her to the room opposite to hers. Chris closed the door behind him as Katie jumped on Kayla's bed and woke her up. "Katie? What's wrong?" Kayla whispered. Then she noticed Wyatt and Chris. "What are you two doing here?" she asked startled, pulling the covers a bit higher. The boys blushed. "We erm… came to check if you were ok." Wyatt said. Kayla stared at them, completely confused. "And…why wouldn't I be?" she asked. "Because our sister got attacked an hour and a half ago," Chris began, "She now has a strange mark carved into her arm, and she said your name." "So we were worried that the witch that attacked her, came after you as well." Wyatt added. "Is she ok?" Kayla asked worriedly, "Can I see her?" Chris seemed a bit reluctant, but Wyatt immediately nodded. "We'll orb you over", he said. But his brother didn't really seem to trust the situation. "Kayla, did you know Katie has powers?" he asked. Kayla gave him a surprised look. "She doesn't." she said. "She does," Chris said matter-of-factly, "We just saw her project a cartoon monster." Kayla looked at Katie. "I… didn't know" she said. Chris shook his head in disbelief. "It's ok," Wyatt intervened, "We should get going." Kayla moved to the side of the bed. "Could you two wait in the living room?" she asked, "I'll just get changed and put Katie back to bed." "Right. Of course." Wyatt answered. He and Chris walked down the wooden stairs, into the living room.

They sat down on the couch. "I don't trust her." Chris said plainly. "You never trust anyone, Chris." Wyatt returned. "You don't think it's strange that Katie has powers too, even though Kayla said she lived with a non magical family?" Chris asked surprised. "No" Wyatt answered shaking his head, "I don't." At that moment, Kayla walked in. "I'm just going to the kitchen to leave a note for my family." She said, still looking quite worried. A few minutes later she came back. "Alright, let's go." Wyatt said. He and Kayla orbed out together. And just before he orbed out, Chris noticed the book on the shelve that Melinda had seen before.

They orbed into Melinda's room. As soon as they arrived, Kayla walked over to Melinda and started talking to Piper who was sitting on the side of the bed. Chris gestured for his brother to follow him into the corridor. "I saw a runes book on her book shelve in the living room", he said. "So?" Wyatt asked. "So," Chris continued, "if she really _does_ live with a non magical family, why would she keep a school book there?" Wyatt shook his head. "She's not a threat, Chris." He said, and walked back into the room. But Chris wasn't going to give up, just like that. "Mom, dad, can I talk to you for a sec?" he asked. Wyatt gave him an annoyed look and followed his mother and father back out of the room as well. "You seem worried. What is it?" Piper asked. "I don't trust Kayla." He said. "Why?" Leo asked, "Did something happen?" Chris nodded. "Katie, the daughter of her cousin; she's magical too. She projected the image of a cartoon monster because we orbed into the wrong room and she was scared." he began. "Well, it could've been the first time she showed her magic." Leo said, "Magic _is_ triggered when you get scared." "But that's not all," Chris continued, "I also saw a school book, from magic school, on the book shelve. A runes book. Why would she put it there if she doesn't want her family to know she's magical?" Wyatt still thought his brother was being paranoid. "So you think she lied? About everything?" he asked. "Yes," Chris answered, "and if you think about it, it does make sense. I mean, she's known Melinda more than half of her life, she knows us, and she conveniently lives with a non magical family we haven't seen before. Well, except for Katie, who is in fact magical. So it's not like we can orb in unannounced to check up on her. Plus, just before we left her house, she went into the kitchen to leave a message for her family. She could just as well have used that time to contact whoever she's working for." Leo didn't seem to buy it either. "That's a bit far fetched, don't you think?" he asked, "Don't forget that Melinda asked for Kayla." Chris shook his head. "She never asked for Kayla; she said Kayla's name. And she could just as well have said it to let us know she's behind all this." Wyatt wanted to say something, but before he got the chance, there was a scream from Melinda's room.

They rushed in. The bed was empty. Melinda was gone. Kayla was sitting against the wall, barely conscious. She had a wound on her forehead and a cut on her right arm.

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**Note**: Thanks again for the reviews and such. And sorry for the wait. I had an exam to study for, so it took a bit longer. But this chapter's a bit longer as well so I hope that compensates things a bit. Hope you enjoyed reading it. Don't forget to let me know what you think... 


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